Just curious, why didn’t your neighbor call the local police dept., advise them what he needed to do and have a uniform come out, that way no one would suspect any hanky panky? Especially law enforcement.
The sheriff asked the owner to stay away during this part of the action.
The tenant, or the sheriff, as a final act, locked the door!
We had, at that time, regular police patrols on bicycles in this area.
Short of having the cops come over and watch as the owner opened his door I suppose he could have had an armed guard there prepared to shoot anyone who looked out of sorts.
The deal in Texas would still be a problem no matter how things were handled. Notice that the 911 folks told him to stay in his house and leave these guys alone, that the cops were on the way.
I can just see that old coot trying to have a shoot out with a hired armed guard too, if it'd come to that. Guy has lost leave of his senses.
Even in Texas I think his interference in police business ("officers are on the way") is going to lose him his only defense.